War Crimes
Lessons from history: Comparing Australia’s response to war crimes with the United States
“It is only recently that this country has given serious attention to the issue of war crimes allegedly committed by our forces,” Special Investigator and former judge Mark…
It’s time Australia branded Russia’s Wagner Group a terrorist organisation
The French parliament has recently designated Russia’s Wagner Group, led by Vladimir Putin’s “chef” Yevgenyi Prigozhin, as a terrorist organisation. Paris has called for the wider…
What of the Rohingya? The ICC, Ukraine, and limits of “international” justice
The International Criminal Court has sent a strong message to Russia’s government and beyond that war crimes should – and sometimes can – be prosecuted by issuing two arrest…
Russia in Ukraine: accountability and global order on the precipice
The Munich Security Conference this year took on a new character. The meeting, held last weekend, involving leaders from across Europe and elsewhere debated the greatest…
The hard road to justice for Russian war crimes
As evidence of and investigations into war crimes committed by the Russian military during the invasion of Ukraine continue to be reported, consideration has also been applied…
ASEAN governments need to act on Myanmar
On my first trip to Myanmar for Human Rights Watch in 2012, I met the activist and writer Kyaw Min Yu (known as Ko Jimmy), who had recently been released from prison. It was a…
Putting Putin on trial to enforce a price for the powerful
Stories of children finding the bullet-ridden bodies of their parents, repeated rapes, and airstrikes have revealed the horrors of Russia’s invasion to the world. In the two…
Even Putin is not beyond the law
Russia’s ability to launch its so-called “special military operation” to undertake “denazification” in Ukraine has not so far faced international legal sanction. On 25 February, a…
The duty to prevent genocide in Ukraine
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine has laid bare the brutality of the campaign, there have been increasing debates over whether it constitutes genocide. On 12 April, US President…
Russia is committing atrocity crimes in Ukraine, but not genocide
Russia is committing atrocity crimes in Ukraine, but they do not constitute genocide. While that distinction matters little to people caught up in this brutal armed conflict,…